By Rabbi Lazer Gurkow
Is “too perfect” a thing? Most of us worry that we aren’t perfect enough. But I know of at least one person who worried about being too perfect. Our collective grandfather, Abraham.
The Midrash informs us that when G-d instructed Abraham to be circumcised, he consulted his friends, Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Aner advised him against circumcision. Eshkol advised him to circumcise in private lest his enemies attack him. Mamre told him that if G-d told him to circumcise, he should obey. Abraham chose Mamre’s home to recover from his circumcision.
Why would Abraham ask his friends whether to circumcise if G-d appeared to him directly and instructed him to do so?
Jewish mystics explained that this was one instruction that Abraham feared more than anything. Essentially, his fear was that he would become too perfect.
Angels and Humans
You would think that G-d would prefer angels to humans, but no. G-d wants the imperfect human. Why? G-d wants the imperfect human who is drawn to pleasure and sin, but overcomes and does the right thing.
When G-d gave the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai, the angels complained that the Torah should be given to them. G-d told Moses to offer a defense.
Moses replied that the Torah enjoins us not to steal or kill. Do you have an evil inclination, he asked them, that you would need to be told not to succumb to it? The Torah was meant for imperfect humans.
Abraham’s Fear
We now return to Abraham’s fear. Although Abraham stood ready to obey any of G-d’s directives, he was afraid of this one. Circumcision would make Abraham too perfect. Without imperfections, he would have nothing to overcome.
To fulfill the Mitzvah of Bris Milah correctly, we must not only circumcise ourselves, but also treat it as a covenant between us and G-d.
For most of us, circumcision is mostly about the milah, not so much about the brit—the covenant. Abraham was different. For him, circumcision would be a complete covenant. A complete break with his human inclinations.
Abraham could already see that he would circumcise and he would become perfectly righteous. He would have only one passion: to fulfill G-d’s will.
Abraham’s Question
So, Abraham asked his friends, should he follow this one Mitzvah and lose out on a lifetime of pleasing G-d by struggling and overcoming? Mamre put him on the right track. Life is not about being the one to bring pleasure to G-d. Life is about obeying G-d.
There are two morals here. First, don’t worry about our imperfections. G-d loves our struggles, He loves our triumphs, and He views our occasional failures as opportunities to rebound. Second, never worry about becoming too perfect. A perfect G-d loves it when imperfect humans strive for perfection.
